“Between the eye and the memory”. Zbigniew Herbert’s recollection of the “borderland city” Cover Image
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„Między okiem a wspomnieniem”. Zbigniewa Herberta pamięć „kresowego miasta”
“Between the eye and the memory”. Zbigniew Herbert’s recollection of the “borderland city”

Author(s): Krzysztof Czajkowski
Subject(s): Studies of Literature
Published by: Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Zbigniew Herbert

Summary/Abstract: The article is another attempt at interpreting Herbert’s family town. The poetic memory of Lwów brings to mind Słowacki rather than Mickiewicz. The image of the city, which is recorded “between the eye and the memory”, resists the cultural expansion of the arcadian myth, which was exploited in the contemporary Polish literature in the colonial figure of Kresy and the nostalgy for the “land of the childhood”. Herbert’s Lwów is different – it is both real and mythical like urbs aeterna and in that respect it reminds of other, “Herbertian” cities: it is everywhere, always and nowhere.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 5
  • Page Range: 206-215
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Polish